Notes on the recipes

American cooks use standard containers, the 8-ounce cup and a tablespoon that is the equivalent of 3 teaspoons. 16 level tablespoons fill a cup. Obviously a packed cup of butter will weigh more than one of flour. Please weigh ingredients when the recipe calls for weight measurements. They will be much more accurate than cup measurements.

Temperatures are given in Fahrenheit standards. This link to a conversions chart gives equivalent Celsius temperatures, gas marks, and imperial and metric measurements.

If I have included a hard-to-find item in a recipe, I have probably also given a source or a substitute. If I have suggested a substitute, then I have successfully cooked the recipe with it.

Ingredients are straightforward. Butter is always unsalted unless otherwise stated. Salt is pure, unadulterated; pepper is not ground until it is time to use it.

If you have any problems with my recipes, I beg you to let me know. I pride myself on the success of my written recipes and since this is a casual blog, I may not have been as careful here as I have been in my printed works: most often I write up these blogs the morning after I have cooked a meal. Frequently I find myself re-writing these entries (and the worst thing is that this software doesn’t have a spell checker!!!).

I also encourage you to use the recipes as a guideline. Sometimes your grocer might not have the shallots called for in a recipe, but I hope that you will use common sense and substitute the whites of scallions.